A Study On Social And Organizational Dilemma Of The House Owner's Collective Action

Since the development of housing marketization reform, the real estate plays a more and more important role in Chinese economy, at the same time, the way of social organization and city governance also start to change. But because of the social reform does not keep pace with the marketization, many house owner'right has been aggrieved and collective action for justice and fair treatment mushroomed in Chinese cities.Although house owner's collective action continuously take place in many cities, but successful cases are very few. Its main reason lies in some social and organizational strength which weaken the house owner's power in the process to protect there right. First , the house owners and the developers and the property management companies play an unbalanced game, the latter not only hold superiorety in the information, organization, and economy, but also has formed a stable benefit alliance with some local authority officials and the media. Second, the house owner's collective action generally faces free-rider phenomenon and the trust crisis, lack of organization ability and social capital make the collective action process difficultly. The owner committee, which should protect the owner's benefit, is difficult to play the role and works inefficiently. Third, although there are some institutional ways to protect there right, however these ways symbolic significance is more than the substantial significance, or cost too much for the owners, so some times, the non- institutional ways become the last choices, once they choose these ways, the owners will face political and the legal risk. These non-institutional ways are threat to social stability.To relieve social instability caused by these collective action and social movements, we have to change the ways of social governance and establish a new institutions to fit the market economy and the citizen society. In this process, how to definite government's role is very important, where is the boundary of the state power? Some behaviors, for example, inaction, excess of authority, rent-seeking, and so on, should be prevented to happen. The house owner's collective action although face many difficult positions, maybe appear some disharmonious factors some tames, but it promotes the citizen society's growth to a certain degree.